The Supreme Court has ordered reinstatement of Prof Dr Shashi Sharma as dean of the Institute of Medicine under the Tribhuvan University (TU).
The joint bench of Chief Justice Gopal Parajuli and Justice Deepak Karki, after conducting the final hearing of the writ petition filed by Sharma four years ago demanding his reinstatement, has ordered his reinstatement for four days if he so wishes.
"We have issued a mandamus to reinstate him for four days starting from today itself if the petitioner so wishes as four days remain in his term that started from January 9, 2014 and expires on January 11, 2018," the mandamus reads.
Dr Govinda KC, who has been waging a war against the malpractices in medical education sector, had fasted for his removal stating his appointment was made without any standard, and demanding that the dean be appointed on the basis of seniority. The government had fired Sharma and appointed Rakesh Srivastav in his place as per Dr KC's demands.
The mandamus, however, adds that the court cannot speak about what will happen to the appointment of current dean Jagadish Agrawal who has succeeded Srivastav.
"As far as appointment of the recently appointed Prof Dr Jagadish Prasad Agrawal is concerned, we cannot speak on his appointment through this case as there are no grounds to establish that his appointment is illegal, and we should also consider the effect lack of dean can have on operation of the defendant institution," the SC has stated.
A bench of the then chief justice Sushila Karki had deemed that an interim order need not be issued on Sharma's petition.
